Wrecking machines for demolition have been used extensively for delivering forces to wreck or crush buildings and stone. This has been accomplished in the past by rigidly securing a boom with a tool head or pick to a bulldozer blade or a backhoe bucket. The force of the tool is delivered by raising and lowering the blade or bucket to act as a hammer similar to the mechanical movement of a human hammering a nail.
The problem with such wrecking machines is that large demolition impacts cannot be obtained since the momentum with which the wrecking machine delivers the force is controlled by the rate at which the tool head is lowered. Also, rigidly attaching the boom of the tool head to the blade or bucket will produce high concentrated stresses at the location at which the boom of the tool head is secured to the bucket, due to the impact force being transmitted from the contacting surface Further, the momentum of the impacting force will from cycle to cycle. Finally, the height at which the tool head is raised and lowered will also vary from cycle to cycle.